Chapter 4: Project Integration Management

coordinating all of the other project management knowledge areas throughout a project life cycle

Interface Management

identifying and managing the points of interaction between various elements of a project

Strategic Planning

determining long term objectives by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, studying opportunities and threats in the business environment, predicting future trends, and projecting the need for new products and services.

SWOT analysis

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A tool used for Strategic Planning.

Mind Mapping

a technique that uses branches radiating from a core idea to structure thoughts and ideas. sometimes used to perform SWOT analysis.

Problems

undesirable situations that prevent an organization from achieving its goals

Opportunities

chances to improve the organization

Directives

new requirements imposed by management, government, or some external influence

Net Present Value (NPV) Analysis

a method of calculating the expected net monetary gain or loss from a project by calculating the value of all expected future cash inflows and outflows at the present time

Cost of Capital

the return available from investing the capital elsewhere

Discount Rate

the interest rate used to discount cash flows

Return on Investment

the result of subtracting the project costs from the benefits and then dividing by the costs.

Required Rate of Return

the minimum acceptable rate of return on an investment

Payback period

the amount of time it will take to recoup the total dollars invested in a project, in terms of net cash inflows

Weighted Scoring Model

is a tool that provides a systematic process for selecting project cased on many criteria

Balanced Scorecard

a strategic planning an management system that helps organizations align business activities to strategy, improve communications, and monitor performance against strategic goals

Project Charter

a document that formally recognizes the existence of a project and provides direction on the projects objectives and management